Raid on Tortuga- Success!
Sand Island
St. Helens, OR
October 19-21, 2007
Come, sit fer a spell an' spin us some yarns
fer it's YE I be likin' t' meet!
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Be who you are and say what you feel
Because those who mind don't matter
and those who matter don't mind!
~Dr. Seuss
How can a woman be expected to be happy
with a man who insists on treating her
as if she were a perfectly normal human being?
~Oscar Wilde
Here's an ol' sea shanty I be findin' in Terry Breverton's "The Pirate Dictionary":
The Chivalrous Shark
The most chivalrous fish in the ocean,
To the ladies forbearing and mild,
Though his record be dark,
The man-eating shark
Will eat neither woman nor child.
He dines upon seamen and skippers,
And tourist his hunger assuage
And a fresh cabin boy
Will inspire him with joy,
If he's past the maturity age.
A doctor, a lawyer, a preacher,
He'll gobble one any fine day.
But the ladies, God bless 'em,
He'll only address 'em
Politely and go on his way.
I can readily cite you an instance
Where a lovely young lady of Bream;
Who was tender and sweet
And delicious to eat,
Fell into the bay with a scream.
She struggled and flounced in the water
And signalled in vain for her bark.
And she'd surely be drowned
If she hadn't been found
By a chivalrous man-eating shark.
He bowed in a manner most polished,
Thus soothing her impulses wild.
"Don't be frightened," he said,
"I've been properly bred,
And will eat neither woman nor child."
He proffered his fin and she took it,
Such gallantry none can dispute,
While the passengers cheered
As the vessel they neared,
And a broadside was fired in salute.
They soon stood alongside the vessel,
While a lifesaving dinghy was low'r'd.
With the pick of the crew
And her relatives few
And the mate and the skipper aboard.
They hauled her aboard in a jiffy,
While the shark stood attention the while.
Then he raised on his flipper,
And ate up the skipper,
And went on his way with a smile.
Now this shows the prince of the ocean,
To the ladies forbearing and mild,
Though his record be dark,
The man-eating shark
Will eat neither woman nor child.
These be some piratical words an' phrases that be ticklin' me fancy:
Belly timber- food
Bring yer arse to an anchor- sit down
Ballast- It be a common enough word, 'tis true but the origin is what be appealin' t' me. 'Tis from the Old German and meant 'belly load'.
By Artist
Captain Bogg & Salty
Kevin Hendrickson
Spinnaker
The Doors
Nirvana
Led Zeppelin
The Rolling Stones
The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Roger Waters
Queen
Supertramp
Black Sabbath
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
The Who
The Eagles
Heart
The Moody Blues
The Animals
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Santana
Three Dog Night
Jethro Tull
Jim Croce
Rod Stewart
Alice in Chains
The Scorpions
Neil Diamond
Elvis Presley
Kevin Hendrickson
By Album:
Foreigner/Foreigner
In City Dreams/Robin Trower
Kaleidoscope/Siouxsie & The Banshees
Violent Femmes/Violent Femmes
Nine Objects of Desire/Suzanne Vega
Universal Mother/Sinead O'Connor
Greatest Hits Vol. 1/Linda Ronstadt
Greatest Hits Vol. 2/Linda Ronstadt
Born in the USA/Bruce Springsteen
Tubular Bells/Mike Oldfield
Deep Forest
Purple Rain/Prince
By Song Title:
Ain't No Sunshine -Bill Withers
Hit the Road Jack -Ray Charles
Tainted Love -Soft Cell
Low Rider -War
When I Was Young -Eric Burden & the Animals
Praise You,
Wonderful Night -Fatboy Slim
Mouth -Bush
Fever -Peggy Lee
Should I Stay or Should I Go -The Clash
I Love Rock n' Roll -Joan Jett & the Black Hearts
Land of a Million Drums -Outkast
Loser -Beck
Three is the Magic Number -Blind Melon
Super Freak -Rick James
Ghost in the Machine,
Don't Stand So Close To Me -The Police
Games Without Frontiers,
Shock the Monkey,
Sledgehammer -Peter Gabriel
Oh, Superman -Laurie Anderson
Need You Tonight -INXS
Love My Way -The Psychedelic Furs
Magic Carpet Ride,
Born To Be Wild -Steppenwolf
Bolero -Ravel
Never There -Cake
Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) -Offspring
She's a Lady,
Kiss -Tom Jones
Heart Shaped World -Chris Isaak Feel Like Makin' Love -Bad Company
Slow and Easy -Whitesnake
Crazy -Patsy Cline
In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida -Iron Butterfly (Interesting note: How the aforementioned song came about: One of the members of Iron Butterfly had an idea for a song called "In the Garden of Eden" but at the time he told his band mates about it, he was too drunk to speak clearly so it came out "In-a-gadda-da-vida". They liked the sound of it so much that the rest, as they say, is history!)
Papa Was a Rolling Stone -The Temptations
Fire -The Pointer Sisters
Bad Boys -Inner Circle
Enter Sandman -Metallica
Holy Rider -Dio
The Metro,
Sex (I'm a...) -Berlin
Gypsies, Tramps, & Thieves -Cher
I Got You Babe,
The Beat Goes On -Sonny and Cher
I Can See Clearly Now -Anne Muray
You Put the Lime in the Coconut
Soundtracks:
Jesus Christ Superstar
Tommy
Fiddler on the Roof
Twin Peaks
Pirates of the Great Salt Lake
The Last Samaurai
Fallen
A Place in the Sun
The Accidental Tourist
The Lion in Winter
The Last Tempation of Christ
The Exorcist
Silence of the Lambs
and
Hannibal
The Lost Boys
Johnny Handsome
Blade
Cousins
Why,
The Pirates o' the Caribbean Trilogy, o' course!
So many, many books!
So little time!
The White Dawn: An Eskimo Saga by James A Houston
The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
The Cry and the Covenant by Morton Thompson
Anya: A Novel by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read
The City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The World According to Garp by John Irving
The Woman He Loved: The story of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor by Ralph G Martin
Ordeal By Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party by George R Stewart
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Silence of the Lamb series by Thomas Harris
The Lovely bones by Alice Sebold
No Dessert Till You've Finished Your Mashed Potatos by William O'Brian
Any and All Books by Anne Rice
Books by Ann Rule
And so many, many more.....
Links
Once a month,
when the time is right,
there be a group o' pyrates
who light their lanterns,
slip below deck
and gather Down in the Hold
to spin a few yarns
and teach, learn and share knowledge o' the piratical sort.
All who sail in and around the Portland, OR area are welcome to join.
Here's where ye can find 'em:
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If'n ye be headin' out Portlandia way, I offer some useful advice. Thar be an inlet where a pirate ship can drop anchor and be assured of relative safety. And situated in this inlet is Portland's own pirate haven. It be the haven I call me own and the place where Down in the Hold gathers and meets. It's here at:
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The heart of Portland's pirate community resides in the activities of Pirates of Portlandia. Ye can see them participating in the Starlight Parade, terrorizing the city with pub raids, singing Christmas carols at local hospitals and discovering new ways to cause good-hearted mischief and mayhem. Here's where to go for more info:
Pirates of Portlandia
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..
Abraham Lincoln
Robert Kennedy
Martin Luther King Jr.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Janis Joplin
Oprah Winfrey
Jimmy Carter
Amelia Earhart
Annie Oakley
Mae West
~ ~ ~
Piratically speaking, Madame Cheng be me favorite, hands down. Not on'y was she th' mos' powerful pirate o' th' female persuasion, she also ruled a legion o' pirates larger in number than any other, 'fore her or since. She finagled her way to th' top from th' lowly status o' a prostitute. Then when th' proper time came fer her reign t' end, she went on t' bargain with an' exploit th' government, findin' legitimate titles an' places fer herself an' many o' her underlings. She kept herself politically active in ways that women o' th' day weren't allowed an' went on t' die o' natural causes a' what was a' that time th' ripe ol' age o' 69. It be th' mos' successful livin' out o' an' mos' peaceful endin' o' life by a pirate I've e'er read o'. Let's hear it fer th' ladies!
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I find this image so interesting because of how this woman is dressed.
It illustrates so well the blending of such contrasting traits as aggression and femininity.